1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to wheel immobilizing devices and, more particularly, is concerned with a versatile wheel immobilizing apparatus having improved spacing and latching mechanisms for accommodating different wheel sizes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Vehicular theft is wide-spread and constitutes a challenging problem to solve. One attempt to solving the theft problem is to install a device on a wheel of the vehicle which will immobilize the wheel and thereby thwart attempts to move the vehicle. Representative of the devices in the prior patent art designed to immobilize a vehicle wheel and secure it against movement are the ones disclosed in Bohler U.S. Pat. No. (4,804,070), Von Heck U.S. Pat. No. (4,833,442), Suroff U.S. Pat. No. (4,888,969) and Richards U.S. Pat. No. (4,913,265).
Two basic approaches to the design of wheel immobilizing devices are exemplified by the devices of these patents. The Von Heck, Suroff, and Richards patents exemplify one approach in which devices are designed to physically attach in some manner to the wheel and thus prevent it from rolling through a complete 360.degree. of movement. The Bohler patent exemplifies the other approach in which the device is designed only to physically block the wheel from rolling at all in both forward and reverse directions.
For wheel immobilizing devices to be an effective solution to the vehicular theft problem, they must be relatively simple to use and inexpensive. A wheel immobilizing device, such as exemplified by the Von Heck, Suroff, and Richards patents, which is designed to physically attach in some manner to the wheel, tends to have complicated constructions and requires coordinated manipulation of many parts and thus is relatively difficult to use and expensive. On the other hand, a wheel immobilizing device, such as exemplified by the Bohler patent, which is designed not to attach to the wheel but only to physically block any rolling movement of the wheel, tends to be relatively uncomplicated and thus is relatively simple to use and inexpensive.
For instance, the wheel immobilizing device of the Bohler patent employs a pair of wedge-shaped chocks. Each chock rotatably supports a lockable retaining mechanism which includes a support rod extending transversely through the chock and a pair of elongated retaining arms rigidly affixed to opposite ends of each rod to extend tranversely of the longitudinal axis of the rod. The retaining arms are spaced apart through a distance exceeding the width of the wheel. Each rod is pivotally supported by the chock for rotation about its longitudinal axis between an open position in which both retaining arms are angularly displaced about the axis of the rod from the opposite faces of the region between the chocks occupied by the wheel and a closed position in which both retaining arms extend across the faces of the wheel occupying region between the chocks. The outer ends of the retaining arms of the mechanisms positioned on the same side of the chocks and on the outer side of the wheel can be locked together by a padlock when the retaining arms are in the closed position. The chocks can be removed from opposite front and rear ends of the wheel when the retaining arms are in the open position. The pair of chocks are maintained at a fixed distance from one another by a solid flat spacing bar. Alternatively, the patent discloses that the spacing bar could have slidably adjustable end portions or the chocks could be slidably mounted to the opposite ends of the spacing bar to vary the distance between the chocks to accommodate different size vehicle wheels.
While the above-described wheel immobilizing device of the Bohler patent appears to be a step in the right direction, the inventor herein perceives that it too is unduly complicated and clumsy to use and so does not provide an optimum design for solving the problem of vehicular theft. Consequently, a need still remains for more improvements in the design of wheel immobilizing devices for physically blocking the wheel from rolling in either forward or reverse directions.